A Coos County man who suffered burns over nearly half of his body in a “flashback” gas-can explosion has filed a

$13 million lawsuit against Walmart, which he alleges sold him a dangerous fuel container, the manufacturer of which went out of business amid a wave of costly litigation linked to the product’s design.

The plastic can produced by Blitz USA burst and sprayed burning fuel onto Daniel Rowlett as he poured a gasoline- diesel mixture into a burn barrel while trying to start a fire on Oct. 21, 2013, according to the suit filed Thursday in

U.S. District Court in Eugene.

Blitz, based in Miami, Okla., was the largest seller of portable gas cans before it shut down in 2012 while facing product liability lawsuits filed by more than 80 people during a five-year period.

Like Rowlett’s complaint, many of the lawsuits accused Blitz of not fitting the spout of its signature gas can with an inexpensive safety screen that would have blocked flaming fuel vapors from shooting into the container and causing an explosion. Other manufacturers equip their cans with the piece.

Walmart was named as a defendant in some of the gas can suits. In 2013, the retail giant agreed to chip in $25 million to resolve the litigation, with Blitz paying another $136 million toward the settlement.

In regard to Rowlett’s lawsuit, a Walmart spokesman on Friday suggested the Coos County man’s own negligence caused him to be burned.

“It’s unfortunate when people misuse gas cans because tragic injuries can result,” company spokesman Randy Hargrove said. “Safety is a top priority, and we require the products we sell meet or exceed safety standards established by federal and state regulators. We’re looking into the complaint and will respond appropriately with the court.”

The statement echoes earlier declarations made by Walmart in gas-can explosion cases. Blitz cans had warnings stamped onto them, which cautioned people against using gas to start fires.

Rowlett is represented by attorneys Derek Johnson of Eugene and Jonah Flynn of Atlanta. Flynn has taken a number of similar cases in the past. He says Rowlett “didn’t do anything wrong” when he was injured.

Rowlett is a rural Coos County resident who worked as a mechanic before suffering burns over 45 percent of his body, Flynn said.

On the day of the accident, Rowlett decided to pour fuel into his burning barrel after mistakenly believing that he had failed to get a fire going a short time earlier, the attorney said.

The suit asserts that a vapor trail from the gas can ignited when the fuel came into contact with something burning in the barrel. The trail then rushed back into the can, causing it to explode violently and spray burning fuel onto Rowlett.

Rowlett’s medical expenses from the incident so far have totaled more than $324,000, according to the suit. Rowlett wants Walmart to compensate him for those costs, pay his future medical bills, and reimburse him for lost income. Flynn said Rowlett’s injuries will prevent him from returning to work as a mechanic.

The suit also seeks $10 million to compensate Rowlett and his wife, Janet, for pain and suffering. Additionally, Walmart should pay the Rowletts $3 million in punitive damages because it knew of dangers associated with the gas can and failed to provide “appropriate warning” to customers when the can was purchased, according to the lawsuit.

“It’s been absolutely devastating” to the Rowletts, Flynn said. “I’ve seen worse, but this is a very serious injury.”

Blitz cans have been associated with a number of deaths. In one notable case, a Utah jury in 2010 awarded more than $6 million to a man whose daughter was killed when his plastic gas can exploded as he poured gasoline into a wood stove to start a fire.

The man’s lawyers argued during trial that a flame arrester would have prevented the accident. The jury blamed Blitz for 70 percent of the accident while ruling that the can’s user was 30 percent to blame, according to media reports of the case.

The parents of two toddlers killed by an explosion caused by spilled gasoline and a nearby water heater have settled claims against a series of defendants.

Most of the settlements are confidential, according to theparents’ attorney. Those disclosed run into millions of dollars.

Jeremiah Fenn Jr., age 3, and Ja’el Fenn, 1, died from burns they suffered in their Albany home July 24, 2009. Although their bodies were almost completely burned, they were conscious, “thrashing around and crying” when their mother pulled them from the fire and carried them out of the house, said Jonah Flynn of the Flynn Law Firm, who represents the parents, Jessica and Jeremiah Fenn. The children were taken by ambulance to the Augusta Burn Center. Jeremiah died a week later, Ja’el a month and a half after that, according to their obituaries.

On the night of the fire, the children had been put to bed as usual. But they climbed out and went looking for their mother in the laundry room, Flynn said. In addition to the washer and dryer, the room housed a gas- powered water heater. Also, because the rented house had no garage, the parents stored lawn equipment there, including a gasoline can. One of the children tipped over the gas can. When the vapors reached the gas water heater’s pilot light, the room exploded in a flash fire.

“This is an innocent spill that was a death sentence for two children— and it could happen to you or me or anybody,” said Flynn.

The parents sued the landlord and makers and sellers of the water heater and the gas can in Dougherty County Superior Court two years after the tragedy, alleging their children died because the gas can and the water heater were defective and that the heater had been installed improperly. They claimed a total of $12.3 million in damages, including $8.5 million for the children’s lost earning capacity and $3.8 million in medical bills. Ja’el alone had $3.2 million in medical bills covering 20 surgeries in an attempt to save her life, according to Flynn.

The lawsuit contended the water heater was flush to the floor when it should have been elevated, as required by building code rules. Flynnsaidthelandlordsettledfora$1 million liability insurance policy limit. The landlord, Jason Lawson, and his company, Lawson Investments, were represented by Michael Kendall of Kendall Law Group in Douglasville. Kendall couldn’t be reached.

Flynn also negotiated a confidential settlement with another company owned by Jason Lawson and his brother, Michael, Lawson Industries. Lawson Industries’ attorney, Matthew Moffett of Gray, Rust, St. Amand, Moffett & Brieske, said Flynn was “tenacious and thorough in developing his evidence and advancing his contention”—that the second company was an “alter ego” for the first, which owned the rental home. Although Moffett argued against that contention, he said he was impressed with “how reasonably and professionally Jonah Flynn negotiated with us to resolve the case.”

The lawsuit further contended that thewaterheaterwasdefective because of an “open pilot, openburner” design that had been used since the 1930s but was abandoned by manufacturers after 2002 because of safety issues.

“After 2002, the water heater industry changed its design to include a flame arrester covering its pilot and burner to prevent the explosion of flammable vapors,” Flynn said.

The Fenns settled for a confidential amount with the manufacturer, American Water Heater Co., and A.O. Smith Corp., which bought American after the manufacturing date. They were represented by Adam Peck of Lightfoot Franklin White in Birmingham, Flynn said. Peck said he couldn’t comment.

The other alleged defect was in the gasoline can, which came with a cap that was lost soon after purchase, Flynn said. “It was a red can with a black spout and a yellow cap,” Flynn said. “The cap falls off immediately.” The Fenns sued Blitz U.S.A. Inc, the manufacturer of the gas can. The settlement amount was confidential, but Flynn said it was part of a $161 million fund that covered 88 claims. Based on those figures, the average payment would be $1.8 million. Flynn said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. provided part of the settlement fund, as a retailer that sold the cans.

Michael Goldman of Hawkins Parnell represented Blitz. But Goldman said his involvement ended before the settlement, when Blitz filed for bankruptcy protection, and that the settlement was paid through the bankruptcy court.

The Fenn case differed from others against Blitz over the gas can, which alleged the can exploded, Goldman noted. The Fenn lawsuit, Goldman said, “was obviously a sad case” but “the container did not cause this.” He said the children’s death was the result of “gasoline spoilage around an open flame.”

Goldman said the can came with warnings against storing indoors or around children. “If common sense were used, these accidents wouldn’t happen,” he said.

Flynn said he is also handling a series of cases around the country against Blitz over the gas can. The design of that product has also changed since the Fenn family’s tragedy. “The gas cans are made differently now,” said Flynn. “It takes two hands to twist the cap off the spout.” Goldman said those changes were in response to environmental regulations, not lawsuits.

With their litigation and settlements concluded, Flynn said his clients continue to grieve. The mother, a private probation officer, was also burned carrying the children out of the fire. She suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, Flynn said. The father, a contract policeman on a military base, wears a picture of his children on a chain around his neck.

In a lawsuit that appears to be the first of its kind in the nation, a man who was burned over half of his body when he tried to make a batch of hash oil in his burned over half of his body when he tried to make a batch of hash oil in his million lawsuit faulting the store that sold him the butane necessary for his do- )
it-yourself project.

Kevin Tveisme’s lawsuit blames the importers, the distributors and the Shell mini-mart on Southeast Foster Road that sold him the butane, alleging that they failed to warn that butane vapors are highly explosive, especially in enclosed spaces such as a garage, and that other people who have tried to make hash oil with butane have been badly burned or killed.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, is unprecedented in the U.S., said Jonah Flynn, the Atlanta attorney representing Tveisme.

But hash-oil explosions are not: The list of people who have ended up seriously hurt or dead after flash hash oil explosions been growing in recent years.

Hash oil has become popular in the past five years and contains a particularly potent concentration of THC. It can be made by using butane to extract THC from marijuana. It’s then smoked, ingested or vaporized to achieve a high.

But the production process can be quite dangerous — with butane vapors suddenly igniting from a single spark or flame in a water heater or furnace, blowing off rooftops and literally melting the skin off bodies.

The May 27, 2013, blast that injured Tveisme, who was in his late 20s, also killed his longtime friend, Joseph Westom, who was burned over 90 percent of his body.

Westom, 35, died 18 days later. Westom’s estate has not filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Tveisme suffered burns over 50 percent of his body, most of them were full-thickness burns, also known as third-degree burns. He was in a medically induced coma for six weeks and underwent 11 surgeries. His right index finger was amputated.

His medical bills have topped $1 million. And he wasn’t able to work for 16 months after the explosion, according to his suit.

At the time, Tveisme was an Oregon medical marijuana cardholder – he said severe pain was his qualifying reason. His lawsuit states that he was legally allowed to use marijuana to make hash oil.

Oregon law prohibits people who aren’t medical marijuana cardholders from producing hash oil. That will all change sometime after January 2016, however, when the Oregon Liquor Control Commission starts accepting applications from non-cardholders to make hash oil, said commission spokesman Tom Towslee.

In May 2014, about a year after the explosion, Tveisme reluctantly spoke to The Oregonian/Oregonian he was subjecting himself to public ridicule, but saying he wanted to warn the public about the dangers of the hash oil-making process. He said that he had researched how to make it on YouTube, and no one in the videos said it was dangerous.

Tveisme bought the butane from the Shell gas station’s mini-mart at 12155 S.E. Foster Road. It was bottled in canisters under the “Power 5X” name. A description on Amazon.com doesn’t state its use, but commenters in a Q&A section wrote they use the product in butane torches and cigarette lighters. Tveisme’s attorney said Power 5X’s distributors market it to websites and stores that sell marijuana paraphernalia as a product that can be used to make hash oil.

Flynn said the company advises caution in refilling lighters, but has failed to warn about the dangers of the hash oil-extraction process, he said.

“I appreciate that they put on there ‘Don’t overfill your lighter,’ but one of those cans is enough to fill up your lighter for five years,” Flynn said. “It’s a wink and a nod. They know and everybody else knows that this product is used for the manufacture of butane hash oil. It’s not a secret.”

The lawsuit states that the butane is odorless and can unknowingly travel a large distance. When Tveisme’s home furnace clicked on, his garage burst into flames, his suit says.

“You have to adequately warn of the hazards and dangers of your product in this country,” Flynn said.

A construction worker who spent a month in a Portland burn unit after being injured in a butane-fueled explosion in Astoria last fall has ﬁled a lawsuit against the company that made the cannabis extract, the property owner and the company that sold the ﬂammable gas used to make the product.

Jacob Magley, 34, of Portland is suing 11 businesses and three people for violations of workplace safety laws. He ﬁled the suit in Multnomah County and is seeking $8.9 million in damages.

Magley was working as a contractor in the building when it exploded. The suit claims the company making the extract failed to keep butane from ﬁlling the room. He says the facility lacked adequate ventilation and exit routes, automatic sprinklers and gas detectors among other safety features.

According to the suit, he was not given ﬁre retardant clothing or other protective equipment and was not warned about the dangers posed by butane.

Magley claims that Jason Oei, one of those named in the suit, consumed cannabis oil in a technique called “dabbing” while William “Chris” West handled butane. Magley alleges Oei’s dabbing caused the explosion, which rocked the building on Oct. 19. West, too, was injured in the blast.

Amy Margolis, a lawyer for the pair, declined to comment Monday.

Making hash oil using butane can be dangerous. For years, the activity was unregulated and underground, carried out by home producers who often misunderstand the risks. The gas, a cheap and ﬂammable solvent, is used to extract tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, from marijuana ﬂowers and leaves.

It can quickly ﬁll an enclosed space, where something as ordinary as a pilot light can ignite a ﬁreball.

The dangers led to a new state law that makes unlicensed production of marijuana extracts a felony. The provision is intended to target homemade butane hash oil operations and not commercial operations, which are regulated by the state.

Clatsop County authorities launched a criminal investigation into the explosion. That inquiry is pending. An oﬃcial with Oregon OSHA, an agency whose mission is worker safety and health, said Monday that its investigation also is ongoing.

Meanwhile, Oei and West are have applied for licenses to produce and process marijuana for the recreational market, said Mark Pettinger, a spokesman of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

Pettinger said the agency is not processing the application until outside agencies complete their investigations. The outcome of those investigations could factor into whether the state issues a license, he said.

Magley’s lawyer, Jonah Flynn, of Atlanta, Georgia, said Monday that his client suﬀered burns on his upper torso and that emergency workers arrived to ﬁnd his skin “falling oﬀ.”

The episode has caused Magley lasting trauma, his lawyer said. “He’s having a hard time,” he said.
Flynn said Astoria Trading Co. is the parent company of Higher Level Concentrates, which at the time of the blast was on the Oregon Health Authority’s list of state-authorized marijuana processors.

Flynn, a personal injury lawyer, also represented a Gresham man severely burned in a 2013 butane hash oil blast that killed his friend. That suit has been “resolved” and dismissed, Flynn said, adding that the terms of the resolution are conﬁdential.

The propane explosion which killed Edgar Brummett of White County, Georgia was entirely preventable. According to published reports, the Georgia Propane Explosion was caused by a propane leak at a home in the Mt. Yonah Scenic Estates. A day prior to the explosion, the homeowner called the local propane gas supplier to report a leak, and also to report unusual propane usage over a short period of time…..strong evidence of a leak in the propane gas system. The propane company ignored, or, according to published reports, “disputed” the homeowners call about a leaking propane gas system and possible propane gas leak.

For decades, the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) has known about the dangers of gas leaks and the need to properly and thoroughly inspect a propane gas system when a customer reports a leak, gas service is initiated, or there is a change in tenancy at the property. As noted in the document below, in 1985, the NPGA developed and implemented its “GAS Check” program. The GAS Check program was an industry wide effort to reduce (or, eliminate) residential propane accidents. This was done with consumer and dealer education, and detailed propane dealer training. The Gas Check Program works to prevent propane explosions by provider rules and guidelines for:

A propane explosion in White County, Georgia killed Edgar Brummett. Mr. Brummett was at his grandson’s house in Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia, potentially investigating a suspected propane leak. Apparently, the 120 gallon ASME propane tank had been filled in December, and was already “out of gas” despite low use.

Suspecting an obvious gas leak, the homeowner apparently called the propane company, reported a gas leak, and the propane disputed the homeowners call. An “out of gas” call from a homeowner reporting a leak is a big, big deal in the propane world, and the local propane distributor (Tugalo gas) absolutely had a duty to red-tag the propane system and conduct a full system leak check AND pressure check pursuant to NFPA 58, the LP gas code.

The propane industry has known, for years, of the dangers and hazards of an “out of gas” system and a homeowner report of a leak. Often after accidents such as the one in Sautee Nacoochee, the propane company will be on the scene of the accident within hours, gathering propane samples to determine if the gas was adequately odorized and determining whether the system was up to code.

A trackhoe operated by an outside contractor punctured a portion of the Colonial Pipeline in Shelby, Alabama, causing a massive fuel-fed explosion, killing one and sending six to the hospital. The trackhoe was apparently excavating over the pipeline during repair work related to a previous leak which occurred two months ago.

The Colonial Pipeline Explosion has caused fuel shortages up and down the east coast, and caused gas prices to rise. Atlanta based Colonial Pipeline has been cited twice by federal investigators since September by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Pipeline safety remains a serious problem, as shown by the recent Alabama pipeline explosion .

Two people–a father and a son—were injured last week in a tragic gas can explosion. Heath Grayley and his 5 year old son Kyler were severely injured when a gas can exploded. According to published reports, neighbors heard a loud “boom” which sounded like a bomb.

Gas can explosions are entirely preventable through the use of a flame arrester. Flame arresting technology has been around for centuries.

On February 7, there was a massive explosion at the JCG Feed Mill in Rockmart, Georgia, killing one. Eight people were inside the mill when it exploded. Those injured include 19-year-old Dallas Holcombe, who was injured trying to rescue co-worker Tyler Morgan. Morgan remains in critical condition. Randy Dodd, James Lentz, and a third unidentified man all remain hospitalized.

Initial reports indicate the JCG Feed Mill explosion could be heard up to a mile from the plant, indicating that this was a massive explosion. Because this explosion involves a workplace death, OSHA will investigate the cause of the explosion and, more likely than not, issue citations to the controlling employer of the feed mill.

JCG Feed Mill was purchased by Koch Foods in 2013, after the bankruptcy of Cagle’s, Inc. The Feed Mill was used to support Koch Foods poultry operations in Georgia.

Feed mills like the JCG Mill are often prone to grain explosions, particularly if the mill or its silos do not contain adequate deflagration venting or dust collection devices. The grain handling industry is considered by OSHA to be a high hazard industry. Over the last 35 years, there have been over 500 explosions in grain handling facilities across the United States, which have killed more than 180 people and injured more than 675. Grain dust is the main source of fuel for explosions in grain handling. Grain dust is highly combustible and can burn or explode if enough becomes airborne or accumulates on a surface and finds an ignition source OSHA standards require that both grain dust and ignition sources must be controlled in grain elevators to prevent these often deadly explosions.

On Saturday, January 16 the PeroxyChem Plant in Pasadena Texas exploded, killing one and injuring three others. The origin of the explosion, according to initial reports, was a storage tank used to store cleaning solution. One witness sitting in his truck outside the plant stated he felt the explosion vibration in his chest. Initial reports indicate that a contractor’s equipment exploded because it had been over pressurized.

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Flynn Firm

We serve the following localities: DeKalb County including Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Stone Mountain, and Tucker; Forsyth County including Cumming; Fulton County including Alpharetta, Atlanta, Roswell, and Sandy Springs; Glynn County including Brunswick, St. Simons Island, and Sea Island; and Gwinnett County including Auburn, Berkeley Lake, Braselton, Buford, Dacula, and Duluth.